Scotland’s space sector will receive a major funding boost to accelerate breakthrough technologies and boost commercialisation, the UK Space Agency will announce today at Space-Comm Expo Scotland
Scottish universities will collaborate with partners nationwide to receive a share of £3.8 million from the National Space Innovation Programme (NSIP), on technologies for secure communications, environmental monitoring, and navigation.
Space Minister Liz Lloyd said:
UK Government Scotland Office Minister Kirsty McNeill, who is giving a keynote speech at Space-Comm Expo Scotland today (Wednesday 3 December), said:
Scotland plays a vital role in the UK space sector, contributing £381 million in income and employing 7,120 people (2022/23). It accounts for 13% of total UK space sector employment, making it the third-largest regional employer after London (33%) and the South East (17%).
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The Scottish Government’s Business Minister Richard Lochhead said:
To support this, the UK Space Agency is also announcing £1.1 million in funding for the space clusters of Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales, supporting each of the UK’s devolved administrations to harness their unique space sector strengths, catalyse investment to drive local economic growth, and deliver the ambitions of their space strategies.
Space Scotland will gain £350,000 to strengthen its capabilities in Earth Observation and In-Orbit Servicing and Manufacturing (ISAM) by fostering new partnerships between academia, industry, and government. The funding will also support innovative non-space companies to pivot their technologies and capabilities into the UK’s growing space market.
Dr Natasha Nicholson, CEO of Space Scotland says:
Scotland is also playing a key role in OXYGEN, a project awarded £410,000 funding through the UK Space Agency’s International Bilateral Fund to make lunar exploration more sustainable. Led by AVS UK with partners including the University of Glasgow, the project is developing technology to extract oxygen from Moon soil, or ‘regolith’, a vital step towards producing rocket fuel and life-support materials on-site during lunar missions. This innovation builds on European Space Agency research and will demonstrate oxygen production using lunar-like materials, while Glasgow engineers create advanced systems to collect and transfer samples.
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National Space Innovation Programme Funding
Launched in April 2025, NSIP Call 2 attracted over 560 proposals, reflecting strong demand from UK industry and academia. The programme backs high-risk, high-reward ideas that move technologies closer to market, unlock private investment, and align with national priorities.
The University of Edinburgh, working with the UK Astronomy Technology Centre, is developing a compact instrument for CubeSats to measure pollution such as NO₂ and CO₂ from space, supporting climate action and cleaner air.
The University of Strathclyde, in partnership with BAE Systems, is creating a new satellite navigation system that avoids relying on GPS, by maintaining an agreed time through synchronisation. This ensures planes, ships, and emergency services keep moving safely, even if GPS is jammed or fails.
Heriot-Watt University is collaborating with Toshiba Europe and Cambridge University to build a secure quantum communication transmitter for small satellites, using UK-developed technology to protect sensitive data, keeping information such as financial transactions or defence data secure, reducing the risk of hacking.
Meanwhile, the University of Strathclyde is also part of a consortium led by the University of Bristol to develop a UV-based device for CubeSats that enables secure data transmission between satellites, strengthening cybersecurity in orbit, which is vital for services we rely on every day such as weather forecasts, navigation and communications.
These projects highlight Scotland’s growing role in space technology, from safeguarding communications to monitoring environmental change and ensuring navigation systems remain robust. Together, they advance the UK’s sustainability and security goals while showcasing the country’s leadership in cutting-edge research.
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Building a World-Leading Space Economy
This new investment from the UK Space Agency builds on the UK’s £18 billion space sector, which continues to grow rapidly and is a leading destination for space investment globally.
The UK last week agreed a £1.7 billion investment package in European Space Agency (ESA) programmes at the ESA Council of Ministers in Bremen, boosting the UK’s total commitment to £2.8 billion over the next decade. This funding will sustain thousands of high-skilled jobs, drive innovation, and deliver benefits for people and businesses—from improved connectivity to more resilient infrastructure.
Every £1 invested in ESA returns £7.49 to the UK economy, with contracts flowing back to UK industry and universities. Today’s announcement complements recent UK Space Agency funding that reinforce the UK’s strategic direction in space. These include £6.8 million in International Bilateral Fund awards to support global partnerships, and £6.9 million in government funding for satellite communications projects, leveraging the space sector’s talents and strengthening the UK’s reputation as a world leader in space technology.
Together, these efforts reflect a coordinated approach to growing the UK’s space economy, advancing innovation, and delivering lasting value to citizens and stakeholders across the country.
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